Valtteri Bottas’ most disappointing Formula 1 season came to an end at Abu Dhabi with fifth position on the grid.
It has been most disappointing since his debut season for Williams in 2013 where he could only finish the season with four points.
The Finnish driver established himself at the start of the season where he contended for victories in Bahrain, China and Baku GP. But he failed to mark a single victory for Mercedes. He had a chance of winning at Russian GP but was deprived of the opportunity through the team order.
Bottas admitted that he failed to his own expectations this year, because he started the year with high hopes of being a contender for the title.
While answering whether it was the most the disappointing season, he said: “Yeah I think it is.
“For sure the first season was tough but you can’t compare. For Williams in 2013, we were fighting at the back and I felt in my first year I was kind of meeting my goals.
“Then the few seasons after I drove better and better, and then this one.
“Last year was quite different to this one. It was my first year with the team, my first year against Lewis. I remember this time last year overall for the season I was disappointed. I didn’t meet my targets.
“But now, when I look back, at least I won a few races. So now at this point I am even more disappointed for sure. I think it is the worst season so far.”
However, Bottas has high hopes for the next year with the speed he has.
“I could definitely have had a very different season, and for sure it is disappointing now looking back and how it all turned out,” he said.
“But there are positives, and while you are disappointed that it hasn’t ended as it could have, it can be very difficult to see the positives.
“But I know once I get some holidays I will start to see these positives and they are exactly that there were many races where my performance could have been a lot better in terms of points.
“Overall my qualifying performance and my race performance is better to Lewis than it was last year, so I’ve made some steps forward.
“It’s a positive but we will wait a few weeks to look properly at these positives and also the negative things from my side that I can do better next year.”
